Major Evan Hickman, who is leading the Salvation Army's New York-area relief effort, said his region will need a sustained fundraising effort to respond to Sandy. This week it was serving more than 500,000 meals a day with partner charities and distributing thousands of relief supplies.

People who haven't lived through a hurricane or seen the destruction up close may not realize the full impact, he said.

"It's going to be a long, long term of recovery," Hickman said. "It's time for people just to really dig deep and maybe make a Christmas gift come a little bit early and pick up their cellphone and text us or send us a check. Now is the time to do that."

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – There was still no light Friday night for hundreds of thousands of Long Island homes.

About 150,000 frustrated Long Island Power Authority customers said the company was giving them the run-around and they want to know why.

<snipped>

What started as a news conference by the utility to inform the public on its progress in the restoration effort turned into an angry protest by frustrated customers.

More than 500 residents of Oceanside chanted “LIPA sucks” and said the utility has failed to provide information, give estimates as to when power will be restored, and dispatch workers to the hardest-hit communities.

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

Amid the wreckage wrought by superstorm Sandy, one Jersey Shore woman who lost her home is fighting to salvage something priceless for neighbors and strangers alike -- memories.

Sifting through piles of rubble, curbside trash and litter scattered by the winds that devastated her community of Union Beach, N.J., Jeannette Van Houten has collected hundreds of photographs. Some are remarkably intact; others are tattered or stained by water. Some depict children still not grown, while others show long-deceased subjects in black and white, smiling across generations. Each is precious to Van Houten, who aims to return them to those who would hold them dear. ::snipping2::"I started finding them the day after the storm when I was walking along the water looking at all the damage," Van Houten said.

She has gathered more than 300 photos, some of which date back as far as the 1920s. She's posted the images on a Facebook page to help reunite them with the people who treasure them. One such person was Carol Stenquist, who Van Houten met in a chance Election Day encounter at Borough Hall, where townspeople gathered to commiserate and cast their ballots.

Van Houten recognized Stenquist, an election worker, from three photographs from her burgeoning collection. Stenquist was stunned when Van Houten returned two Easter portraits she took with her grandchildren and a snapshot of Stenquist with a friend at an American Legion convention in Wildwood, N.J.

“It’s amazing. I lost everything," Stenquist told FoxNews.com moments after getting the photos back. "To be able to have a little piece of my past…it’s too much for words. ::snipping2::Van Houten's efforts have attracted far-flung attention. She said she has been contacted by a company that specializes in photo restoration that wants to help save damaged pictures. And strangely, Van Houten recently learned that a New Yorker some 12 miles up the coastline found a photograph washed ashore there last week. More...

Video at Link

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

Cops found the body of David Maxwell in his Staten Island home on Friday after it lay undiscovered for 11 days — with his neighbors thinking he had fled before the storm.

The 66-year-old lived alone with his cat — which also died — in the modest yellow, two-family house on Mapleton Avenue in Midland Beach. The home now stands in a flooded wasteland of trash, ruined furniture, mold and mildew.

Neighbors said they checked on Maxwell, an avid stamp collector, the day the storm struck, but no one answered the door of his first-floor home, so they assumed he fled.

“Everyone rushed to his building on the first day because the water was getting so high,” said neighbor Elaine Walter, 52.

“We knocked on his door and nobody answered.

Neighbors said authorities were called to check on him a week after the storm — but no one came.

“It’s so strange that it took this long for him to be found,” Walter added.

And tragic.

<snipped>

An autopsy yesterday ruled the cause of death was drowning, the Medical Examiner’s Office said.

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

A New Cassel woman has been arraigned on reckless endangerment and related charges after she allegedly operated a generator inside her house, poisoning her family with toxic fumes, Nassau police said.

Judith Edouard-Neus, 45, brought the generator into her Park Avenue home and started it before leaving for work early Friday morning, police said.

When she returned about nine hours later, about 2 p.m., her four children, aged 1, 3, 5 and 7, were nauseated, dizzy and vomiting, police said. One of two women in the home, aged 76 and 77, was unconscious, police said.

The victims were taken to hospitals, but police did not know their conditions last evening.

Edouard-Neus was arrested and charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She was arraigned Saturday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

Battery Tunnel reopens Monday morning but only for express buses into Manhattan

Superstorm Sandy caused flooding that left 43 million gallons of water in each of the two tubes. Officials also said the Long Island Rail Road will have service on 10 of 11 branches Monday but on a reduced weekday schedule.

The Battery Tunnel will reopen Monday morning, but only for express buses into Manhattan, officials announced Sunday.

One lane of one tube will be used for commuters in the morning and again for outbound buses between 3 and 7 p.m., officials said.

Hurricane Sandy caused flooding that left an estimated 43 million gallons of water in each of the two tubes of the crossing, which is officially called the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel.

“The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel is the longest under-river vehicular tunnel in North America, and no one has ever faced a challenge like this,” MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said. “It was filled floor to ceiling for more than a mile with water and debris. The fact that it is now ready for limited commuter service is a testament to the skill and dedication of our hard-working MTA Bridges and Tunnels employees.”

“It was our Katrina,” said one worker from Queens Sunday. “The hardest thing was getting the water out. We were lying miles of pipe.”

You don't know what a relief it is to have that Tunnel opened again. Our commute has been a nightmare. It has taken me between 2 and 2 1/2 hours to get to and from work. I know it only one lane that is opened but it is for buses which should ease the traffic jam.

You don't know what a relief it is to have that Tunnel opened again. Our commute has been a nightmare. It has taken me between 2 and 2 1/2 hours to get to and from work. I know it only one lane that is opened but it is for buses which should ease the traffic jam.

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Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

You don't know what a relief it is to have that Tunnel opened again. Our commute has been a nightmare. It has taken me between 2 and 2 1/2 hours to get to and from work. I know it only one lane that is opened but it is for buses which should ease the traffic jam.

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

We took a ride to Saybrook point today in CT and it was a mess the black granite bar was in the lower parking lot in large pieces I took a small piece::MonkeyNoNo::The water must have come up so far over the sea wall that it took out the miniature golf course. This was all that was left to the beautiful new walkway that was just finished from last years storm

Most of the house's were OK lots of sand in the roads had to go in 4 wheel drive Hubby's Family homes were all boarded up and look OK. We lucked out on this one..

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

Power trips: Workers came from afar to help Sandy recovery effortsPublished November 13, 2012

<snipped>

In all, workers from at least 30 states converged on New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to help with the recovery effort. Most were from utility crews, such as Georgia Power, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Clark Public Utilities, in Columbia, Wash., and even Hydro-Quebec, of Canada.

There were also state troopers from as far away as Mississippi, FEMA workers from all around the nation, volunteers from the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and other nonprofits and countless workers from smaller companies who dropped what they were doing back home to answer the call..

For utility workers who had the all-important task of restoring power to millions of residents who endured days and even weeks of darkness, local utilities turned to mutual assistance agencies, which locate and help deploy available utility crews and equipment to repair lines, erect poles, trim trees and whatever else needs to be done to get the juice flowing again. The power companies, knowing they could be on the receiving end of out-of-state help the next time disaster strikes, forgo any profit, billing the recipient utilities at cost once the crisis is over.

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

The city's Department of Health says recent testing shows outdoor air quality is good. But officials warn about indoor air quality.

Airborne toxins could come from mold in a flooded basement. We saw mold covering the walls of one basement. Health officials warn people to wear gloves and masks when cleaning out the debris. ::snipping2::Volunteers with Heart to Heart, a mobile medical unit in Far Rockaway, say respiratory illness has been the second biggest problem with people who have come in for help, right behind high blood pressure from stress.

Video at Link

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

Loving Natalee - Beth HollowayPage 219: I have to make difficult choices every day. I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me. It's not easy. I ask God to help me._____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown

::snipping2::Six months after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Jersey shore and New York City and pounded coastal areas of New England, the region is dealing with a slow and frustrating, yet often hopeful, recovery. Tens of thousands of people remain homeless. Housing, business, tourism and coastal protection all remain major issues with the summer vacation — and hurricane — seasons almost here again. ::snipping2::By many measures, the recovery from Superstorm Sandy, which struck Oct. 29, has been slow. From Maryland to New Hampshire, the National Hurricane Center attributes 72 deaths directly to Sandy and 87 others indirectly from causes such as hypothermia due to power outages, carbon monoxide poisoning and accidents during cleanup efforts, for a total of 159.

The roller coaster that plunged off a pier in Seaside Heights, N.J., is still in the ocean, although demolition plans are finally moving forward. Scores of homes that were destroyed in nearby Mantoloking still look as they did the day after the storm — piles of rubble and kindling, with the occasional bathroom fixture or personal possession visible among the detritus.

Throughout the region, many businesses are still shuttered, and an already-tight rental market has become even more so because of the destruction of thousands of units and the crush of displaced storm victims looking to rent the ones that survived.

Homeowners are tortured by uncertainty over ever-changing rules on how high they'll need to rebuild their homes to protect against the next storm; insurance companies have not paid out all that many homeowners expected; and municipalities are borrowing tens of millions of dollars to keep the lights on, the fire trucks running and the police stations staffed, waiting for reimbursement from the federal government for storm expenditures they had to fund out of pocket.More...

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan